1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a control device for vehicles. In particular this invention relates to a control device for towing vehicles used for agricultural purposes which have a mounting for manual control members arranged adjacent to the forward end of the armrest of the driver's seat and a plurality of manual control members mounted thereon for controlling various functions of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Control devices of this type, which are used for passenger vehicles and other vehicles, are known from European Patent No. 0-537-718-A1. These devices enable the driver of the vehicle to control a number of facilities or functions of the vehicle with his or her hand, while the driver's forearm rests on the armrest of the driver's seat. However, this previously described control device is not suitable for utility vehicles such as agricultural tractors. Although utility vehicles and agricultural tractors generally have relatively few manual control members which are used during working operation, these members need to be operated very frequently. For the device described in European Patent No. 0-537-718-A1, this would mean that the position of the forearm relative to the armrest would need be repeatedly adjusted to enable the driver to reach the various control members. Also the driver's hand would have to assume an unnatural position, which would soon lead to fatigue.